


Respect

by heytheregisela



Category: Rooster Teeth/Achievement Hunter RPF
Genre: M/M, Mavin, RageHappy, x-ray and vav
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2015-04-04
Updated: 2015-04-04
Packaged: 2018-03-21 05:02:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 5,964
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/3678603
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/heytheregisela/pseuds/heytheregisela
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Where Gavin finally meets the fearful Mogar. But maybe that’s not all there is to him. (X-Ray and Vav AU)</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Part one

**Author's Note:**

> What originally was supposed to be a simple one part drabble turned into two parts. I posted this on tumblr, but since many people seemed to enjoy it, I decided to put it on here as well :)

The first encounter Gavin had with him  was out one night when he went out for a walk because he was having trouble sleeping. Of course this meant he wasn’t out and about to look for crime, since he was just Gavin, the normal citizen – not Vav, the superhero. Some things would just happen without expectation, though.

“Hey! Get back here!” He heard someone shout and he spun around to find the source of the voice. Down the street, he could see a man that he knew as the owner of the small jewelry shop standing outside and waving his fist angrily in the air. Gavin followed the man’s gaze to find someone running further down until they turned a corner. He looked down an alleyway he was near and decided he could possibly catch up or run into the robber if he went down this way. And quickly, he took off.

Usually he preferred not to do any of this without wearing his disguise, but this was an emergency. Coming out of the other side, just as he had hoped, the robber was heading towards him. Gavin’s lips curled up as he managed to jump forward and tackle the person to the ground.

“Ah, fuck!” They shouted, struggling underneath Gavin. “Get the hell off me!”

Gavin grabbed his wrists and pinned his arms over his head. He was finally able to see their face which was partly covered by a simple black mask. They were wearing what appeared to be a fake bear hooded jacket and a light blue backpack and Gavin knew instantly who this was.

_Mogar._

He’d heard the stories, the new incoming enemy that was trying to take the place of the Mad King, but Gavin never thought he would ever come face to face with the guy. Yet, here he was, straddling him without his disguise. Well, that’s  _exactly_  what someone wanted to do – be _completely_  exposed to a villain. Yep. No consequences there…

“I said, get the  _hell_  off me!” Mogar cried out again, bringing Gavin’s attention back.

Gavin blinked hard and furrowed his eyebrows. “I’m sorry… no wait, I’m not sorry,” he grinned. “I’m doing what I have to do and that’s to-”

“Oh, shut up!” Mogar growled before catching Gavin off guard by pulling his wrists free and rolling him over. Gavin squawked, frantically attempting to grab onto something of Mogar’s. Although, Mogar  managed to push him back hard and jump onto his feet. Gavin sighed in defeat and merely stared up, gaping.

Mogar looked as though he was ready to run, but he halted and turned back to Gavin with a devious smile. “I guess it’s not fair to end this here, right? I forgot all about my manners,” he placed his hands on his hips, looming over Gavin. “I’m Mogar.”

Gavin scoffed. “I know.”

Mogar raised an eyebrow curiously, though his smile remained. “You know?”

“I’ve heard things.”

“Right, yeah. I shouldn’t even be fucking surprised that the  _great_  Vav knows who I am.” Gavin’s face paled at those words, his eyes widening slowly, and Mogar bared his teeth in such a wicked grin.

“You…” but Gavin couldn’t get anymore out beyond that. Yeah, he was definitely screwed. Where the hell was Ray when he needed him most? Oh, that’s right. Sleeping soundly at home. Gavin wished he would have stayed home, too and just tried watching TV instead of going out for a walk.

“Yeah,” Mogar nodded, “I know it’s you, Vav. For one, there’s not that many people with British accents around here and yours is just easy to pick out.”

 _Bollocks._ Gavin started to sit up, though he averted his eyes, unsure what was going to happen next.

“Don’t worry,” Mogar went on, “I’m not gonna hurt you. I respect you and X-Ray do.”

“You do?” Gavin questioned, looking back up at him in awe.

“Okay, don’t get excited. I respect it, yeah, but that doesn’t mean I like it, or that I like you two idiots. In fact, I think you two are really fucking annoying and need to stay the hell out of my way, like right now, but at least I’m glad it’s only one of you.  _But_  I can respect why you wouldn’t want to stay out of my way.”

“You don’t deserve to get away with this. The villains never win-” Gavin was cut off by Mogar holding up his hand and glaring down at him. For a second, Gavin could have  _sworn_  he saw those eyes glow a bright yellow when Mogar blinked twice.

“Save your stupid hero speech for someone who cares,” Mogar told him, beginning to take a few steps back. Gavin frowned and the expression on Mogar’s face softened immediately. The villain turned away. Again, he looked like he was ready to run, but he glanced at Gavin over his shoulder.

“It was nice finally meeting you, Vav,” and after flashing a lopsided smile and a wink, Mogar took off, leaving the dumbfounded hero still sitting on the ground with slightly pink cheeks.

* * *

 

“Wait,  _what_  happened?” Ray practically screamed the next morning after Gavin told him the previous night’s event.

Gavin sighed deeply. “I just told you, Ray.”

“And you didn’t  _think_  to call me?!”

“You were asleep.”

“So?!”

“I honestly thought I could handle it on my own and it’s not like I was hurt. He let me go.”

“And you let him go with the jewelry!”

Gavin bit down on his lower lip and Ray threw his hands up in frustration.

“So, what now, Gavin?” He asked. “We have to find him and get the stuff he stole back!”

“We… we do?” Gavin’s voice was so soft, but that mixed with the way his eyes brightened had Ray raising his eyebrows.

“Are you happy about that?”

“W- _what_? No! He knows how I look with or without my disguise! That’s not exactly a comforting thought and having to go back and face him isn’t… good, either…” Yet, Gavin slowly turned away and let out a loud breath. Ray’s eyebrows squeezed together, hoping what he was thinking wasn’t true.

“Gav-”

“Okay, is it terrible to think that someone you should hate is cute?” Gavin asked him, spinning back around to face him.

“You think  _Mogar_  is cute?  _Mogar_? The stupid wannabe villain that wears a  _bear_  outfit? It doesn’t even make him look vicious. He just looks like a teddy bear!”

“It’s adorable,” Gavin smiled to himself.

Ray stared in shock at him, silent for a moment as he tried processing all of this. “Please tell me you’re kidding me, man.”

“Ray, I know he’s the bad guy and we  _will_  take him down like we do with every other bad guy, but I can’t help it if I think he’s pretty,” and then there was that goofy look on Gavin’s face again. “I got close enough when I tackled him to see that he’s got  _freckles_  all over his face and-” This time he was interrupted by Ray walking up to him and slapping him on the back of the head.

“ _Ray_!” Gavin whined, moving away from him.

“Listen to how ridiculous you sound, Gavin! You have a dumb crush on  _Mogar_.”

“Stop saying his name like that.”

“ _Mogar, Mogar, **Mogar**_!”It seemed each time Ray said it, the name would be more laced with disgust. “But seriously, Gavin?! Why?”

Gavin shrugged. “He wasn’t what we heard in the stories, Ray. Well, not entirely. He told me he respects what we do, but that didn’t mean he liked it. That’s why he didn’t hurt me, though. I guess I just respect him back for that. He doesn’t seem dangerous, because like you said, he has more of a teddy bear look to him than a vicious one.” A part of him debated whether or not to tell Ray about how he might have seen Mogar’s eyes glow, but as he almost decided to say it, Ray spoke.

“And you just think he’s cute overall?”

“He is… but we should go after him and get back what he stole. We’ll show him that justice always-”

“Gav, just shut up and get dressed so we can go,” Ray mumbled as he headed back to his own bedroom.

Gavin furrowed his eyebrows and rolled his eyes, although he obliged.

* * *

 

The second encounter happened later that day as the sun was starting to set when Mogar was crouched behind a small space. He was scoping out a new place of interest and this time, Gavin – or, rather  _Vav_  –found him before he could do anything. Ray decided to stay back and hide until the right moment, so Gavin walked up behind Mogar alone.

He swallowed hard and opened his mouth, “I didn’t expect to see you again so soon.” Mogar visibly jumped at his words and turned his head to look at him. The look of sheer shock was quickly replaced by a smirk when Mogar noticed Gavin was Vav this time.

Mogar stood up and fully turned his body. He then bowed as he said, “It’s an honor, Vav.” When he looked back up, he asked, “Where’s X-Ray?”

“Around,” Gavin simply answered, making Mogar’s smile increase.

“Are you here to stop me?”

“Yes, but I’m also here to tell you that you need to return what you stole yesterday.”

Mogar snorted and shook his head. “Yeah, that’s not happening,” he turned to leave, but Gavin held up his hands and Mogar gasped as he felt himself slow all the way down until he was  _barely_  able to move a muscle. Damn slow motion power.

Gavin put his hands down and walked the rest of the way up to him, and then around to look him in the eye. Now he was the one smiling. “Don’t worry, love; it wears off in about ten minutes.”

Mogar couldn’t even react. Well, he was probably trying, but it was just very slowly appearing on his features.

“I’ll make a deal with you, Mogar. If you promise to give back what you stole, I’ll get you out of this quicker and X-Ray and I will never bother you.”

“ _What_?” Ray whispered harshly to himself as he heard that.

Mogar still had a blank expression on his face and Gavin grinned crookedly.

“Blink if you’ll agree to this.”

In the span of what felt like forever, Mogar’s eyelids closed and reopened, and Gavin actually felt a small tingle form in his chest. From… excitement that he got a villain to agree to his deal? Yes, of  _course_  that was why…

“Good choice,” he said as he raised his hands again and Mogar was brought back to normal speed.

“I could have easily waited those ten minutes out, but I just have other shit to do tonight and I don’t need to be waiting my time with you.”

“Oh, I’m sure,” Gavin laughed.

Mogar looked around carefully, making sure no one else was in sight before locking eyes with Gavin. “Follow me,” he said in an extremely hushed tone. He started heading back down the street and Gavin hesitated a bit, but then he hurried after him.

Ray groaned and jumped out of his hiding spot, knowing he needed to be sneaky if he intended on following them. He peeked around the corner and watched as Mogar took the led while Gavin trailed behind.

The two continued to walk until they came in front of a building, one that appeared to be abandoned, and Mogar leaned against the door as he looked at Gavin.

“If you ever tell X-Ray where this is, I’ll do worse things to you than you can ever imagine.”

Gavin took a deep breath, half hoping Ray was somewhere near and listening in. “You have my word.”

Mogar pulled a key out of his pocket and quickly unlocked the door. Gavin was waiting for him to walk in first, but instead, Mogar grabbed him and pushed him in before following. Ray cursed under his breath as the door shut.

Inside, Gavin blinked various of times to adjust his vision to the darkness, but that was worthless since Mogar then turned on the light. Gavin could now see clearly how the place was basically empty with only a bed pushed up against the wall off to the side, a desk on the other end, a mini refrigerator next to it with an end table that held a microwave. There was a door to the right that Gavin only assumed was the bathroom, or perhaps, a closet, but he didn’t ask.

Mogar walked up to the bed and lifted the mattress a bit, revealing a small velvet bag. He grabbed it and dropped the mattress. “Here you go,” he said, tossing it over at Gavin and he laughed softly when Gavin almost missed, having to clumsily catch it.

“Are you sure this is it?” asked Gavin, opening up the bag to find a few necklaces and rings inside.

Mogar crossed his arms. “Hey, I’m a villain, not a liar.”

“That doesn’t quite make you a  _good_  villain.”

“… Maybe that’s the point.”

Gavin stopped his inspection of the jewelry as his shifted his gaze to Mogar’s face, seeing the strangest mix of fear and despair. “What do you mean?”

Mogar licked his lips and dropped the eye contact before he responded, “You said you heard things…”

“Yes,” Gavin nodded, although he couldn’t tell where Mogar was going with this.

“What did you hear?”

“That you were the Mad King’s new competitor, aiming to be the best evil villain in Austin.”

Mogar’s face seemed to drop even more. “That’s what you heard? That’s what they’re saying?”

“Yeah.”

“Wow. You steal a  _few_  things from the Mad King and suddenly you’re a piece of shit,” his tone was angry, but Gavin couldn’t recall the last time he saw someone with such a broken look to them. And it made Gavin realize something.

“You… you’re not a villain, are you?”

Mogar stared hard at the wooden floorboards, breathing in and out quietly and allowing silence to basically drown them both. Gavin was ready to just speak up and say he was just going to leave, but then Mogar suddenly did look up at him.

“You’re pretty smart, Vav. That’s one of the reasons I respect you.”

Gavin pouted a little. “If you aren’t a villain, why would you let people think you are? Why would you give yourself the name ‘Mogar’ anyway? And why dress the way you do?”

“What? You don’t think that’s my real name?”

“No?”

Mogar smiled weakly and shrugged a shoulder. “I didn’t want people to know me by my real name. Personal choice. I also dress this way so I won’t get arrested when I’m just out and about in my regular clothes, idiot. I thought that was obvious,” though he sighed when he saw Gavin’s face redden. “Uh, to answer your other question… the stories and rumors just got out there; it was your decision to believe them or not, but like everyone else, you believed them and I can’t blame you.

You are a superhero. It’s your job to look out for the people here. That means, taking any little threat serious, which I  _respect._  And maybe I did play it up a little on purpose, because it made people leave me alone. To be completely fucking honest with you, all I care about is just making it through another day alive.”

Gavin took a step towards him, but then stopped from doing that again when he saw Mogar take a step back. “I’m sorry I was quick to judge, but even if you aren’t out to hurt people, that still doesn’t give you the right to steal.”

“Well, what else am I supposed to do?!” Mogar snapped, curling his hands into tight fists.

“Take the mask off and stop hiding. I’m sure if you tried, you could find something to do, something legal that can help you make money.”

“I’ve tried. Believe me, I have. And I’ve failed, every time. This is all I have left.  _I’m_  sorry if that doesn’t sit right with you, but it’s my life.”

Gavin brought a hand up to scratch his head as he thought about what to say next. There was probably so much he could say, especially if Ray were there, but he couldn’t come up with anything.

“I’m… I’m keeping my deal,” he decided on saying. “X-Ray and I will leave you alone, but please don’t get into too much trouble.”

“I can’t promise that.”

“Will you try, at least?”

Mogar pursed his lips and Gavin noticed how his fists loosened. He then watched carefully as those hands went up to grab the mask, and he held his breath as Mogar slowly took it off.

If he thought Mogar looked fairly innocent and frankly  _adorable_  with that on, he certainly was a sight without it.

“Wow,” he breathed out. Mogar smirked.

“I hope that’s a good ‘wow’.”

Gavin’s lips curled up. “Definitely.”

Mogar looked down at the mask in his hands and sighed. “I’ll try,” he whispered. Gavin tilted his head until he quickly realized what he was referring to. So, he smiled more.

With that, he turned towards the door and started walking towards it, but he glanced back at Mogar once more to say, “It was nice meeting you, Mogar.”

“Michael… call me Michael.”

Gavin widened his eyes and parted his lips, which only made  _Michael_  laugh.

“Okay,  _Michael_ , it was nice meeting you.”

Michael nodded. “Yeah, you too.”

Now Gavin really was going to leave, especially with how annoyingly fuzzy his heart and stomach were beginning to get, but something else came to mind and he  _had_  to bring it up or suffer the endless curiosity later. “Your eyes… I thought I saw them glow yesterday…”

Michael blinked. “Is that a compliment?”

“Wha-” though Gavin snickered as he thought it over and realized how that would sound like one. “No… I… I really thought I saw them  _glow_.”

“Well, sorry. My eyes don’t glow. I’m not an actual bear, Vav.”

“Gavin. My name’s Gavin.”

“ _Gavin_ ,” Michael smiled.

And now for real, Gavin opened the door and stepped out quickly, letting out a content sigh he’d been so desperately holding in. He closed the door behind him and was hardly surprised when he turned his head and found Ray standing there, staring at him bewilderingly.

“ _Well_?” asked Ray after a much too prolonged silence, his hands going up in the air.

Gavin tossed the bag filled with jewelry over to him and said, “We got what we wanted. Now let’s just go return it and be happy that we won again.”

Ray’s face lit up as he looked inside. “Like you say, justice always-”

“Ah, Ray,” Gavin cut him off, waving his hand. “Shut up.” Ray closed his mouth and nodded. He began to lead the way in the direction of the jewelry shop, but Gavin lingered behind a moment to look back at the abandoned looking little building. He grinned to himself and hurried off after Ray, because he knew that wasn’t going to be the last encounter.


	2. Part two

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> After seeing Michael again, Gavin goes to a ridiculous length to spend more time with him.

The third encounter was probably the most memorable one.

Four months after X-Ray and Vav had returned the stolen jewelry back to its owner at the small shop, any news pertaining to Mogar had suddenly stopped. That had Gavin feeling both good and a bit worried inside. The good part came from the fact that Mogar… well,  _Michael_ as Gavin now knew him as _,_  really was trying to stay out of trouble like he said he would. The slight worry came from the thought that perhaps this meant Michael had moved on to a different city and if that were the case, was he okay?

Ray constantly told him not to dwell on it. They had made a deal and that deal was to stay out of Mogar’s business, so Gavin kind of  _had_  to get over it and… get over him. It wasn’t like it was hard, though, since they only really met twice, so there wasn’t much to get over. Oh, but that was so far from the truth. The last time they saw each other, Michael opened up to him, something that didn’t appear to be an easy task to do. For that, Gavin did feel a little special and he would find himself going back to that night when he was alone or having trouble falling asleep.

And the night of the third encounter only added to his infatuation.

It was a group of thieves who X-Ray and Vav knew very well worked closely with the Mad King and they were doing their monthly rounds of picking up a few things for their boss. They had just finished cleaning out a vault filled with money that an owner of a bakery kept in the back room. The only reason they knew about it was because of an insider and the amount of money that it was did pique the Mad King’s interests, so off his thieves went.

An alarm had went off and since X-Ray and Vav were already out, they heard it immediately and took off in the direction it came from. They weren’t even surprised when they saw the group of familiar thieves wearing their ski masks and black outfits.

“Oh, it’s just them,” Ray mumbled to Gavin as they stopped running. Knowing exactly how to handle these guys, the two simply waited for them at the end of the street.

“Oh, great, it’s the  _superheroes_ ,” one of the thieves grumbled to the others.

“I expected them,” another said as he quickly ducked when Ray shot a laser towards him. Ray wrinkled up his nose, seeing that he missed.

Gavin sighed and held up his hands. “I’ll get him.”

“No, you won’t!” A voice said from behind. Gavin wasn’t even able to turn around in time and fell right to the ground as something banged on the head.

Ray spun towards the thief that had sneaked his way behind them. “Where the hell did you come from?” He asked, bringing his hand up to activate his lasers again.

“We’re not stupid; we knew you two would come,” a fourth guy said as he ran up and slapped Ray’s glasses off him.

The one that had sneaked up picked the glasses up and dangled them up in the air as Ray blinked rapidly, trying to see his best without them.

“Aw, what’s wrong  _X-Ray_ and _Vav_?” The fourth taunted.

“Not so heroic now, are ya?” Another laughed.

Ray squinted his eyes to glare at one of them, but a groan quickly reminded him that Gavin was still lying on the floor. He shifted his gaze to his friend and noticed how he was starting to wake up. At least that didn’t take long.

“Vav,” Ray bent down next to him and placed a comforting hand on his shoulder, unsure whether he wanted to tell him to stay down or get up.

“Losing one time isn’t gonna kill you guys,” the second thief spoke up, the one holding the bag of cash over his back. “The Mad King was bound to win again.”

Ray snarled up at him, despite the fact that he looked like a complete blur. He was ready to say something when he was interrupted by someone else speaking.

“Hey, assholes. I don’t think so.”

Ray whipped his head around to see a familiar person standing nearby, holding what appeared to be a sword of sorts. Looking him up and down, seeing the silly attire, Ray concluded that it was indeed no other than…

“Mogar,” he whispered.

Michael glanced at him to flash him a quick smile before going back to staring down the group of thieves. Gavin lifted his head and widened his eyes when he saw him. Michael raised his sword and held it against one of the guy’s necks.

“I believe you have something that belongs to X-Ray.”

The thief pursed his lips and kept his eyes on Michael as he tossed the glasses at Ray. Ray clumsily caught them and put them back on in an instant. Gavin wanted to get himself up, but the blow to his head had him feeling weak and really, he just wanted to close his eyes again. So, he stayed lying where he was and merely watched as Ray got to his feet to stun these thieves with his lasers.

“What was that you were saying?” Michael asked the second thief. “Uh, who lost?” And he grinned as Ray stunned that one. The others shrieked and took off running in the other direction. Even the one Michael had his sword against managed to find the courage to escape. Michael let him. They had the money back anyway.

Gavin rested his head back down, yet he forced to keep his eyes open. “Mic- uh, Mogar,” he smiled lopsidedly up at him. Michael returned it.

“Where did you get that?” Ray asked, gesturing towards the sword.

Michael looked it over in his hand and said, “Would you believe me if I said I found it?”

“No.”

“Well, too bad, because I did find it.”

Ray raised his eyebrows and Michael did as well before crouching down slightly and holding out a hand for Gavin. Gavin slowly picked himself up, enough so that he could grab Michael’s hand, and Michael helped him the rest of the way up. Gavin was slightly unsteady on his feet that Michael had to him hold him in place until he regained his balance.

And when Gavin did, he laughed weakly, or rather, nervously, as he looked into Michael’s eyes. “Thank you.”

Ray looked back and forth between the two, not believing the way they were staring at each other. Were they serious? He scoffed and grabbed Gavin’s arm gently.

“Well, we should go, since dizzy right here can barely stand on his own.”

Gavin furrowed his eyebrows and looked at him. “I’m fine.”

“Sure you are,” Ray gave him a teasing smile, and then he turned his attention to Michael. “We also made a deal to stay out of your business, so…”

“Yeah, but that deal said nothing about us having to  _completely_  avoid each other,” Michael informed him. “Besides, I saw you guys were in trouble. I wasn’t just gonna walk away.”

“So, you’re some hero now? Because that’s our job.”

“And I respect that,” Michael said, holding up his hand. “I just wanted to help you out this time.”

“We appreciate it,” Gavin spoke up. And there was that goofy grin of his again. Jeez. When Gavin had a crush on someone, it was seriously not a joke.

Michael nodded at him and took a step back. He looked as though he was going to tell them something else, but then he just closed his mouth and walked off. Gavin watched him like he was in some sort of daze that Ray felt the need to snap his fingers in front of his face.

Gavin blinked hard and turned to his friend, “He’s gorgeous.” Ray couldn’t even help but smile at that.

* * *

 

It was probably the stupidest idea Gavin could have ever came up with, but as soon as it crossed his mind, he was unable to stop it from happening. Ray was out running a few errands on his own, so Gavin decided to put his idea into play then. The first step was to find Michael and he  _hoped_  Michael wasn’t at home, but luckily, after wandering around downtown Austin for an hour, Gavin located him walking out of a store. He was dressed in his casual clothes just like Gavin currently was and Gavin smiled at the sight.

Okay, the second step to his ridiculous plan was to… get his attention.

Gavin waited until Michael was heading closer to where he was before sighing and just doing the first thing that came to mind; he quickly lied down on the ground and cried out.

“Oh,  _bollocks_!”

Michael halted in his tracks and looked up from the grocery bag he was holding. A few other people walking by also turned to look at Gavin. Gavin ignored those strangers’ gazes and locked eyes with Michael, giving him a pleasing stare. Michael raised an eyebrow but rushed over to his side.

“Gavin? What the hell happened?” He questioned as he looked him over, puzzled.

Gavin hissed through his teeth and cringed when he tried moving. “I tripped and… and… _twisted_  my ankle,” those last words were spoken so quickly.

Michael’s lips curled up slowly as he shook his head. “For someone who’s a superhero, you’re a little clumsy,” he told him in a hushed tone and Gavin shrugged innocently. “Alright, well…” Michael looped the handle of the plastic bag he was holding through his hand until it was hanging on his wrist before leaning down to help Gavin up. Gavin bit down on his bottom lip to prevent himself from laughing. He wondered what Ray would think of this.

He held onto Michael’s arms as he attempted to stand up, but as soon as he was on his feet, he cried out a little again and pretended like he couldn’t keep standing on that foot.

“God damnit,” Michael sighed. “Do you need me to take you to the hospital to get it checked out?”

Gavin snorted. “No, I’ll be fine. I just have to rest for a while.”

“In that case,” Michael bent down a little as he swept Gavin up in his arms and Gavin had to swallow the lump in his throat when he saw how close their faces were now, though he said nothing and waited for Michael to continue talking. “My place isn’t that far from here; I can take you there so you can rest for a while.”

Gavin forced himself to smile and nod, but his face was beginning to feel really warm. He actually went through with this stupid plan and he felt torn between wanting to laugh about it or being embarrassed.

When they got to Michael’s place, Michael gently put him down on the bed and walked over to sit on his desk chair, placing his grocery bag on the floor next to him. Perhaps this had gone far enough, but what would Michael think if Gavin told the truth? Gavin decided to just stick through the plan until the end.

“I guess I should thank you,” he started, sitting up slightly. “For helping me out today and for the other night.”

“Oh, yeah, the other night…” Michael smirked at him, reaching back to grab his sword off the desk. “It wasn’t a big deal.”

“Maybe not to you, but you saved thousands of dollars from being taken to the Mad King. It meant a lot to that bakery owner.”

Beginning to polish the sword with a small rag he pulled out of a drawer, Michael sighed. “That’s good, I guess. It’s not like I’ll ever do something like that again, so… it was fun while it lasted.”

Gavin’s eyes dropped to the sword and he tilted his head. “You really found that?”

“Yeah, it was just abandoned in an alleyway and well, you know me, always taking shit.”

Gavin let out a small laugh and nodded. Michael peeked up at him from polishing to ask, “How’s your ankle  _feeling_?”

The Brit was taken aback by the way that last word was spoken. Crap. “Why do you have to say it like that?” He hoped he sounded relaxed.

Michael stopped his movements and folded his hands over the weapon. “Oh, you know…” He then narrowed his eyes.  _Crap._

Gavin turned his head away as he mumbled, “It feels… er, not good.”

“Oh, really? Well, if it feels…  _not good_ , then I think we  _should_  take you to get it checked out. You never know, Gavin, it could be serious,” something about that playful and sarcastic tone had Gavin smiling, even though he knew he’d been caught.

Gavin rubbed the back of his neck as he met Michael’s eye once more. “How did you know?”

“It was only a feeling at first, but I can’t believe you  _immediately_  gave up the act when I was _barely_  starting to test you. I probably would have decided to just believe you if you kept going with it.”

“No use in lying when you already seemed to have figured it out.”

Michael rolled his eyes. “What the hell was the point in this anyway?”

Gavin inhaled sharply, but the funny feeling in his stomach was starting to come out. “Well,” he exhaled, “When we made that deal months ago, I told myself to forget about you. I was nowhere near succeeding. I was trying, though, but then you had to ruin  _everything_  by showing up the other night!” He groaned in frustration and crossed his arms.

Michael’s eyebrows twitched eyebrows. “I’m… sorry?” Yet, he ended up grinning and went on to say, “Were you charmed by my  _heroic_  skills?” Oh, he was loving this now. Gavin scowled at him in response and Michael laughed.

“Ray would never let me hear the end of this if he knew,” Gavin muttered under his breath.

Michael stopped laughing and asked, “Wait,  _Ray_? Are you fucking kidding me? His hero name is just his real name with an ‘X’ in front of it?”

“Yep.”

“Wow, you guys are creative as fuck.”

“We save people,” Gavin said defenselessly as he stood up, “we don’t need to be creative.” Michael stood up as well and set his sword back down on his desk.

Gavin licked his lips and stepped towards him, “Back to our conversation about the other night… you were just… you were  _great._  No, you  _are_  great, and I think the sad thing about it is, you don’t even know it.”

“Oh, fuck. Look, Gavin… all I did was help Ray get his glasses back so he could do what he does best, so no, I’m not great.”

“Okay, so you aren’t great as a hero, but you are great as a  _person._ You  _can’t_  deny that, because I know you.”

Michael ran his fingers through his hair and shrugged, “Do you, though?”

Gavin quickened his steps and stopped once he was face to face with him. He then nodded. “Not completely, I know, but I can see that you have a good heart.”

“Hmm, the great Vav knows my heart is good,” there was that playfully sarcastic tone again.

Gavin shoved him gently. “I’m being serious, Michael, and it’s not just because…” he looked down at his feet, “it’s not just because I have a crush on you.” And since he wasn’t planning on looking back up again on his own, Michael gently cupped his face until he did.

“Don’t waste your time on me, Gavin; you deserve better.”

Gavin scoffed, though he brought his hands up and grabbed Michael’s wrists, ignoring the damn fuzziness inside him. “If there’s better out there, then I don’t want it.”

Instead of smiling like Gavin expected him to, Michael’s face fell and Gavin was ready to question why, worried he may have said the wrong thing, but as he saw Michael begin to lean in, he became at a loss for words. Michael stopped midway, though, causing Gavin to frown.  

“I’m always going to hate myself for saying this, but…” Michael pressed his forehead against Gavin’s before whispering, “You’re my hero.”

Gavin could have sworn a part of him genuinely melted at those words and remaining unable to speak any of his own, the corners of his mouth simply curled up and he closed his eyes right as their lips finally met.


End file.
